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A review by latas
Third Twin by Ken Follett
2.0
I picked up this book with high hopes only because it was written by Ken Follet. Now I am asking the same question that most of the reviewers have asked- did Ken Follett really write this?
The thriller had a very interesting premise, which started well but later messed up with badly written characters, ridiculous action, and cringe-worthy romance.
I have read a book by Robin Cook with a similar plot. I don’t remember much, but I don’t think he made a sleaze-fest out of it.
One positive thing was the mention of a search engine, which was quite futuristic at the time when the book was published (Google founded in 1998 and this book published in 1996)
The characters - I wish he could write strong female characters like he did in 'Pillars of the earth'. Just because the heroine Jeannie has a PhD, 6 ft tall with model-like looks and a tennis- pro, doesn’t make her strong. She was self-centered and had skewed set of priorities and morals.
-She uses her search program to look for identical twins who were raised apart (and probably don't even know of the other's existence) and still claims that there is no invasion of privacy. But when she unearths a questionable experiment, she starts freaking about unethical practices.
- I am glad I don’t have any friend like Jeannie. She gets her friend Ghita into trouble asking her to run dubious tests, posing some unreasonable arguments. She doesn’t believe her friend Lisa when she points to Steve as a rapist, and believes Steve whom she has just met, even before seeing any proof of his innocence ? She even blackmails Lisa into helping her telling her how she saved Lisa from a burning building.
All characters behave irrationally. Why else would a man accused of rape released on bail first think of professing love to a woman he just met, than trying to get his name cleared.
The last third of the book where the protagonists uncovered the conspiracy was laughable.
1. Getting classified information from Pentagon? Piece of cake. Just go to the Pentagon on a Saturday night, ask them to run your search engine on their database, copy the results into a floppy disk, take a print out and walk out.
2. Finding the current address and phone number of the clones? No Problem. Open the directory. Call the numbers at midnight. Bingo! Each one is easily traced.
3. Getting the clones to attend the press conference? Everything falls in place easily for the MCs. They just call up the clones, and these grown-up men just attend the conference without any questions.
Caution- if this is the first Ken Follett you are reading, please don’t, you might never pick up another Ken Follet again, which is a pity because his historical fiction is a class apart from this crap.
The thriller had a very interesting premise, which started well but later messed up with badly written characters, ridiculous action, and cringe-worthy romance.
I have read a book by Robin Cook with a similar plot. I don’t remember much, but I don’t think he made a sleaze-fest out of it.
One positive thing was the mention of a search engine, which was quite futuristic at the time when the book was published (Google founded in 1998 and this book published in 1996)
The characters - I wish he could write strong female characters like he did in 'Pillars of the earth'. Just because the heroine Jeannie has a PhD, 6 ft tall with model-like looks and a tennis- pro, doesn’t make her strong. She was self-centered and had skewed set of priorities and morals.
-She uses her search program to look for identical twins who were raised apart (and probably don't even know of the other's existence) and still claims that there is no invasion of privacy. But when she unearths a questionable experiment, she starts freaking about unethical practices.
- I am glad I don’t have any friend like Jeannie. She gets her friend Ghita into trouble asking her to run dubious tests, posing some unreasonable arguments. She doesn’t believe her friend Lisa when she points to Steve as a rapist, and believes Steve whom she has just met, even before seeing any proof of his innocence ? She even blackmails Lisa into helping her telling her how she saved Lisa from a burning building.
All characters behave irrationally. Why else would a man accused of rape released on bail first think of professing love to a woman he just met, than trying to get his name cleared.
The last third of the book where the protagonists uncovered the conspiracy was laughable.
2. Finding the current address and phone number of the clones? No Problem. Open the directory. Call the numbers at midnight. Bingo! Each one is easily traced.
3. Getting the clones to attend the press conference? Everything falls in place easily for the MCs. They just call up the clones, and these grown-up men just attend the conference without any questions.
Caution- if this is the first Ken Follett you are reading, please don’t, you might never pick up another Ken Follet again, which is a pity because his historical fiction is a class apart from this crap.